Glendowie Primary School Newsletter

Glendowie Primary School
Newsletter
Term 4: Week 10
Wednesday 17th December 2014
IMPORTANT DATES
Thursday
Tuesday
Tuesday
Friday
Thursday
Monday
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
th
18 December
27th January 2015
3rd February 2015
6th February 2015
2nd April 2015
25th May 2015
20th April 2015 – 3rd July
20th July to 25th September
12th October to 17th December
Last Day of School. School finishes at 2pm
Class lists on display
First Day of School Term 1 2015
Waitangi Day school closed
Last Day of Term 1
Teachers Only Day
Glendowie Primary School
Board of Trustees
Casual Vacancy for an Elected Trustee
A casual vacancy has occurred on the Board of Trustees for an elected parent representative. The Board has
resolved under section 105 of the Education Act 1989 to fill the vacancy by selection.
If ten percent or more of eligible voters on the school roll ask the Board, within 28 days of this notice being
published, to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy, then a by-election will be held.
Any eligible voter who wishes to ask the Board to hold a by-election should write to:
Chairperson
Board of Trustees
Glendowie Primary School
217 Riddell Rd
Glendowie
Auckland 1071
by: 16th January 2015
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News from the Principal
Dear Parents,
Thank you for your wonderful support throughout the year. It has been an incredibly busy year and one with
many successes
It has been a big year for property again. Year 5/6 classes all got new modern learning environment furniture for
the start of the school year. New roof replacement occurred in our 3 prefabs nearest the field and also out main
building block. Our Year 2 toilet block was modernised, new paving has been put in place in front of the main
school block, and the Parents’ Association have paid for new shade sails for the junior playground on the field.
The Montessori Trust have modernised their junior class rooms to have a new shared modern learning
environment
Our Parents’ Association have worked incredibly hard raising money for the school. Their biggest fundraiser was
the fantastic school fair which raised $70,000 towards our modern learning environment. We appreciate the
huge support that the Parents’ Association have made to the school under the leadership of Jane Somerville
and especially would like to acknowledge the amazing job Karyn Berman and Catherine Duffy did in organising
such a successful fair. Thank you to the Parents’ Association for being such a committed and willing group who
have given so much time and effort all year to supporting the school
Our Board of Trustees under the leadership of Dr Dawn Garbett have had another successful year in terms of
School Governance. Their wisdom and commitment have meant that the schools strategic plan and charter are
planned for, reviewed and resourced according to the schools priorities. Their continued focus has been on
improved learning opportunities for our students and ensuring that school wide progress and achievement of
the children is monitored, reported on, evaluated and new goals set. Thank you for the huge amount of hours
and commitment that you have given to the school
My thank you to the teachers and support staff for their care, support, initiatives and diligence throughout the
year. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a wonderful group of professionals dedicated to continual
improvement and support of our children
Thank you to our Walking school Bus parents who have supported our emphasis on “walking to school”. You
have been great at encouraging this focus within our school through walking with the children.
My thanks to our wonderful children who have supported our I Care philosophy in caring for themselves, each
other, our environment and our staff. I will look forward to seeing most of you in 2015. I wish all those students
who are leaving Glendowie to go to College, or to other schools in NZ or overseas a successful year in 2015.
To all our community, may you have an enjoyable holiday and a great start to our new year of 2015.
Regards,
Anne-Marie Biggs
Year 8 Assembly
What a fantastic wonderful occasion our leavers assembly was last Thursday. Thank you to our Year 8 students
and their teachers, Mrs Blair, Mr Edmondson, Mrs Hughes, Mrs Couper and Mrs Phillips for all their hard work
in putting together such a polished performance.
Special acknowledgement and congratulations to our award recipients for 2014:
Sascha Moltschaniwskyj and Toby Osborne were awarded Dux for Academic excellence, excellence in
curriculum areas, producing consistently high standards of quality work and for setting challenging learning
goals.
Fynn Hickey was awarded Best All Rounder, exhibiting outstanding strengths across the curriculum and in his
contribution to school life.
Eilish Wood and Kate Speirs were awarded the Citizenship Award for an all-rounder achieving in many areas of
the school and especially with excellence in attitude.
Staffing
We farewell Amy Cunningham who has been teaching in our Montessori class since August. Thank you for your
support of our Junior classes and we wish you well in your future career.
We welcome new staff who will join us in 2015:
Permanent Teachers: Miss Courtney Dixon, Saskia Schaudra (Montessori)
Fixed Term Teachers for the 2015 school year: Miss Victoria Hammond, Mrs Mina Greer, Elena Ciobanu
(Montessori)
Teacher Aides: Mrs Michelle Struckmann and Mrs Jane Vogels
News from the Board of Trustees
The Board regretfully accepted the resignation of Mr Tim Mayston at last night's Board meeting. Tim was
elected as a Board representative in June 2013, and has been a valuable member of the Board, particularly in
terms of finance. Tim and his family are moving out of Auckland, and we wish them all the happiness for the
future, and thank Tim for the great contribution he has made to our school.
The Board has resolved to fill this vacancy by selection - please see the notice within this newsletter, which will
also be advertised in the East and Bays Courier this week.
Glendowie School Zone: The Board are aware that there has been publicity recently about an enrolment
scheme review for Eastern Suburbs schools. The Board wish to advise that the Ministry of Education have
assured us that our school zone will remain unchanged.
Important Dates
Last day of School is tomorrow Thursday 18th December at 2pm. We will gather at 1.30pm for a final assembly
and to farewell our Year 8 students.
Class lists for 2015 will be displayed at school from Tuesday 27th January, the week before school starts.
School starts on Tuesday 3rd February with a welcome assembly at 9am. Children please line up on the school
courts in their classes. Mrs Biggs will then speak to you all, and teachers will lead their classes to their rooms.
The Parents’ Association will be providing a welcome back cup of tea for parents/caregivers, so please feel free
to stay and enjoy this once the children are settled in class.
Please note that Friday 6th February is Waitangi Day, so there is no school on this day.
School Uniform
A reminder that school uniform needs to be ordered direct from The School Uniform Company. The only
uniform we sell at school is caps and hats and Intermediate girl’s blouses. You can also purchase items next year
on Monday 2nd February before school starts.
If you have any second hand uniform which is still in good condition but no longer required, we would
appreciate you donating it to us at school.
International Students
At the end of January we have International students and parents arriving in time to start the new school year.
They are looking for a 4 bedroom home or 2x two bedroom places to rent for at least a year in the Eastern
Suburbs area. If you know of anything available, please could you let the office know.
If you are having a spring clean over the summer holidays, and have furniture, linen or household items that you
do not need, we would be very appreciative of it, as when we rent accommodation for our International
students it is usually unfurnished so any help would be really appreciated. Please contact the office and leave a
message on the school answer phone if you can help out.
Library
Summer reading ideas from the library: Keep reading! Evidence shows that literacy levels can drop over the
holiday period if this doesn’t happen.
How about:
• A book for Christmas- there are some great new releases in the bookshops just out for Christmas.
• A book voucher for Christmas- so your children can choose their own.
• Read aloud from picture books for your younger children.
• Read aloud from fiction for your older ones, a great chapter book or a classic. Re-visit a favourite title of
your childhood. Take them on an adventure with you!
• Read aloud! You are never too old !
• Books are perfect for holidays. Under an umbrella on the beach and ideal in a tent with a torch!
• Visit your public library, or if away on holiday, some public libraries in popular holiday areas will allow
borrowing.
Blokes read too! Let your boys see Dad read. A golf magazine, the newspaper.....let them catch you reading!
Happy Holidays everyone! Susan Toth –Librarian
Sports News
Bay Suburbs Athletics: On Thursday 20th November, 41 energised children, 2 teachers and 5 parents all went to
Glover Park for the Bay Suburbs Athletics competition. Everyone put in a great effort in all their events and we
were very proud of them. Notable successes were:
Havana: 2nd Year 6 Girls' 800m, 2nd Year 6 girls' 400m, 1st Year 6 girls' high jump
Carys: 2nd Year 6 Girls' high jump, 2nd Year 6 girls' long jump
Ryan: 3rd= Year 6 Boys' 100m
Will: 2nd Year 5 Boys’ 100m finals , 2nd 200m sprints.
Conor: 2nd Year 5 Boys' softball throw
Year 5 Boys' Relay 3rd Year 5 Girls' Relay 4th Year 6 Boys' Relay 4th Year 6 Girls' Relay 1st
Congratulations to all our students for their performance and their behaviour. Thank you to all the parents who
came to help and support.
Year 3/4 cricket: The students had a wonderful day at the cricket. It was amazing to see them come back to
school with huge smiles stretched across their faces and hearing about the wickets they took and their big hits.
We were ably assisted by several wonderful parents and a sincerest thanks to all those that volunteered to help.
I hope the smiles on the children's faces let you realise how much your help was valued. It was a great
tournament where students learned about the spirit of the game and had excellent results finishing 3rd in the
boys competition (narrowly losing by 4 runs to the eventual winners) and our two girls teams did fantastically
well finishing 3rd and 5th overall.
Eastern Zone Athletics: Well done to our Year 7 / 8 students who represented our school at this event. The
following students did extremely well:
Elliot: 2nd Year 8 Boys’ Shotput
Samantha: 2nd Year 8 Girls’ High Jump
Anna: 3rd Year 8 Girls’ 200m
Samuel: 3rd Year 7 Boys’ 800m
Will: 3rd Year 7 Boys’ High Jump
These students also went on to represent Glendowie at the Auckland Athletic Champs at Mt Smart Stadium.
Weetbix Tryathlon: We love to have as many of our students take part in this every year. This will be held at St
Heliers on Sunday 22nd February 2015 Please go online to register, this is the link that tells you all about the
activities and how to register: http://try.weetbix.co.nz/my-location/auckland-st-heliers
Parents’ Association
The Parents’ Association would like to wish you all a happy summer holiday. Thank you for all of your support
this year, it has been a very busy, but rewarding year and we thank you for help with our fundraising events.
First Meeting for 2015: Our first PA meeting for 2015 will be on Thursday 19th February 7.30pm in the
staffroom. We have some members leaving the PA this year as their children move on to college, so if you are
interested in finding out more, please come along.
Welcome Back Morning Tea: A welcome back morning tea will be held in the mini hall on our first day back to
school, Tuesday 3rd February, directly after the welcome assembly. Whether you are new to school, just want to
say hi, ask questions or pop in and join us for a cup of tea - come along and meet members of the PA.
Glendowie OSCARS
We have a fun range of activities planned for the summer holidays. Copies of the summer programme are
available online www.oscars.co.nz or you can email [email protected] for a copy.
Our holiday dates are:
December Festive Fun: Friday 19th December – Wednesday 24th December 2014
Summer Fun: Monday 12th January – Monday 2nd February 2015
For any queries, please contact Che: 021 367 243 or [email protected]
Community Notices
• Cartoon Classes: 8 x Wed Term 1 3.15- 4.45 (1 ½ hours) The fee is $200 for the term Ex Rob McLeay
tutor teaching cartooning and character development backgrounds, expressions and movement. Based
in the school mini hall. Classes are aimed at Year 5 upwards ideally. We will need approx 5-8 children to
secure tutor for next year. Email Sara: [email protected] or call 0212445437
• Tennis: Christmas 2014 / Summer Holidays 2015: Glendowie Tennis Club has two coaching courses for
the summer holidays: Christmas Tennis: 2 mornings on Monday and Tuesday 22nd – 23rd December $70
Summer Tennis: 5 mornings Monday - Friday 19-23 January 2015 $140. 9am - 12noon, with challenges
for all level players aged 5-15, with ball and racquet skills, ball machine drills, video analysis, game rules,
tactics and technique, tournament and party fun, RAIN or SHINE at the Club in Forfar Road. Please bring
tennis shoes, hat, jacket, snack, drink bottle (filtered water and sunscreen provided) and tennis racquet
(can be hired). Discounts for GTC members and larger families. Please contact Campbell CramerRoberts (GTC Coach)[email protected] or 575-7845 / 0274-738633
• Eastern Suburbs Gymnastics Club: If you have done gymnastics before or if you haven't, we will have a
class to suit you. In this programme you will be taught cartwheels, handstands, rolls, walk the beam,
have a go on the parallel and uneven bars, vault, rings, tumble track. You will do basic mat work and
have games, challenges and fun. Anything for anyone at any level will be covered. You are sure to have a
great time. Plus we run after school gymnastics (ages 5+) for all levels and Playgym for the pre-schoolers.
For more info and to enrol, please visit our web site: www.esgc.co.nz
• Stow Austin Dance Studio: Dance lessons for all ages. For information regarding dance lessons for 2015
with Stow Austin Studio please visit our website www.stowaustinstudio.co.nz or contact Marie Stow
0275456778 or Kristy Austin 021440088
• Do you want to help your child be more successful with their reading comprehension? Are you unsure
how to do that, as you're not a teacher? If you would like to learn how to understand how different
texts work, and how to create great questions to ask your child as they are reading, then this course may
be just what you're looking for. "Help your child excel: Comprehension strategies that work!" is aimed
at parents and caregivers, to allow them to work alongside their child's teachers in enabling a better
understanding of reading comprehension for their child. It is an online course, that you take at your own
pace, and you can ask questions of and have discussions with the tutor and other people who are
learning the strategies for their own children. It covers texts aimed at children from three years old and
up through their school years. Why not take a look and see if it would help your family?
https://www.udemy.com/help-your-child-excel-1/
• Jenny's School of Music: Piano lessons in your home. Beginners Welcome. Please phone or email Jenny
for more information. Ph: 021 025 45658 or Ph:268 4545 email: [email protected]